Homemade Xi’an Roujiamo

肉夹馍 recipe collaboration with Devan!

Hey! This week’s recipe is special—it's developed and filmed in collaboration with

devan grimsrud

from Darn Good. We got to know each other during our time at Kitchen Stories. She has always worked magic in recipes and writing, and mentored me when I first started as a food editor. In fact, over a coffee last summer, she inspired me to start this very newsletter. Head over to her newsletter to see her easy-going, fun, and delightful recipes, such as Sichuan pepper granola, rose water rhubarb jam, and more! Watch us make it here!

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I’m still dreaming about the food from my short trip to Xi’an last December (read here), where I had the best roujiamo and hand-pulled noodles I’ve ever tasted. Some cravings can be satisfied since hand-pulled noodles have become occasional weekend projects for me, and they've been sweeping across Germany in recent years. However, roujiamo remains a rare delicacy. I've only found it in the Chinatown of Milan and at my friend Yuhang’s pop-up at UUU Berlin. Oh, and at a spot called Grand Tang Xiyu in Berlin, which only existed briefly before the pandemic.

Best roujiamo I had in Xi’an @ 秦豫肉夹馍

What is roujiamo?

If you've never tried it, roujiamo (肉夹馍), known as the Chinese burger, is a classic street food from Shaanxi province. The name literally translates to meat sandwiched flatbread, vividly describing the dish with juicy meat tucked into half-laminated bread dough. The flatbread, or mo, is crispy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside, soaking up the rich broth from the meat. It comes in variations of beef (halal version) and pork, as well as with regional variations like Tongguan Roujiamo (潼关肉夹馍) featuring flaky dough.

Homemade version of roujiamo

Making roujiamo at home might seem daunting. So when Devan suggested we collaborate on the recipe and she would take over the flatbread part, I was relieved. We were both surprised by how this simplified home version, taking about 1.5 hours, turned out. When we bit into the freshly baked mo and juicy meat, the effort was well worth it.

How to make Roujiamo at home

The pork version, known as lazhi roujiamo (腊汁肉夹馍), consists of a type of flatbread called baiji mo (白吉馍) and braised pork, known as lazhi rou (腊汁肉). "Lazhi" means aged stock, which is traditionally used to infuse the meat with flavor and color instead of soy sauce. In Xi’an, you can choose between completely lean meat, fatty cuts, or premium meat. I prefer using pork belly with an even distribution of fat and lean parts.

Our braised pork part is based on a classic braised meat (lu rou) preparation in Chinese cooking and took inspiration from Xi’an Famous Food’s recipe and videos from Xi’an chefs. The pork belly is first blanched in cold water to remove impurities. Then to give the pork dark red color and shiny gloss, we make a caramel by melting the rock sugar to an amber black-tea color, a step used also in the tangcu ribs recipe (link). This is the part you have to patiently observe and stir, so the sugar is not burnt and turn bitter. If you want to be on the safe side, you can add the pork first, then the sugar.

The braising spices can vary, with some recipes listing hard-to-find Chinese spices like. My version includes star anise, Chinese cinnamon stick (cassia), bay leaf, Sichuan peppercorns, white peppercorns, fennel seeds, tsaoko (Chinese black cardamom), and dried orange peel. If you can’t find all of them, don’t let that stop you from making this (the first four are the more essential ones)! While restaurant versions stew pork whole for hours, our home version takes about 1 to 1.5 hours. However, I encourage you to stew longer or even let the pork steep in the broth overnight. The finished pork should be so tender it melts in your mouth.

Shaanxi locals will tell you that the mo never waits (肉等馍，而馍不能等肉). Ideally, the flatbread should be warm when serving. So always start with the pork stew since it can wait for the mo, but not vice versa. Purists would only use pork filling, but I grew up with versions including chopped green pepper in Sichuan. It was one of my favorite grab-and-go dinners in college. So if you want some crunchy texture, add green pepper or fresh cilantro as we did in the video!

Read more about the making of flatbread in Devan’s newsletter!

we enjoyed the version with chopped cilantro as well!

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Roujiamo recipe

Serves 4

Ingredients

For the Braised Pork Belly:

• 500 grams pork belly (with skin)

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil

• 15 grams rock sugar (substitute: granulated sugar)

• 4 tablespoons light soy sauce

• 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce

• 2 tablespoons Shaoxing wine

• 2 whole star anise

• 2 bay leaves

• 1 whole Chinese black cardamom (optional)

• 1 whole cinnamon stick

• 1 piece dried orange peel (chenpi) (optional)

• 1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns

• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds

• 1 teaspoon whole white peppercorns

• 1 scallion, cut into 5 cm/2 inch chunks

• 10 grams ginger, thinly sliced

For the Mo:

• 250 grams flour

• 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast

• 1/8 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/8 teaspoon sugar

• 1/8 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 tablespoon oil

• 120 ml room temperature water

• Cilantro for serving, if desired

Instructions

1. Start by braising the pork belly: Slice pork belly into approx. 5 cm/2 inch chunks and add to a pot with cold water. Bring to a boil over high heat and let boil for 5 minutes. Drain the pork in a colander, rinse with cold water, pat dry, and set aside. Rinse out the pot, dry thoroughly.

2. Add oil to the cleaned pot with the rock sugar and let it caramelize over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. Once the sugar is dissolved and turns a deep brown color, carefully add the pork belly (it may splatter, so be cautious). Add about 1 liter of water, enough to completely submerge the pork belly. Add soy sauces, Shaoxing wine, spices (in a tea ball or cloth), scallions, and ginger. Bring to a boil over high heat, then cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and let simmer for about 1 hour, or until the pork belly is very tender and deeply colored. The fat and skin should be nearly translucent and very soft.

3. While the pork belly is simmering, prepare the mo. In a large bowl, mix flour, yeast, baking powder, sugar, salt, and oil with your hands to combine. Slowly add the water while mixing with one hand until the texture is fluffy, sandy, and feathery. Transfer the dough to a clean work surface and knead into a smooth ball, about 3 minutes. Cover the dough with the bowl and let rest for 20 minutes.

4. After resting, knead the dough for a few more minutes until it’s very smooth and gently bounces back when you push a finger into it. Cover and rest again for 10 minutes. Preheat your oven to 200°C/400°F.

5. After the final rest, use your hands to roll the dough into a large log, then split as evenly as possible into 4 equal pieces. use your palms to roll once piece into a long roll. position the rope so one end is close to you and the other is far away, then flatten by rolling from top to bottom once with a rolling pin. roll up from the bottom to the top, tucking the end under the snail and placing with that end on the work surface so the spiral is on the top. use your palm to flatten the snail, then use a rolling pin to roll out to about a 7.5cm/3 inch circle. use your fingers and hands to form a sort of cup shape with the dough for a betting final product, but it’s completely necessary. repeat with all pieces of dough.

6. Set a dry skillet over medium heat and let it preheat. Once hot, turn the heat down to medium and put two pieces of dough in with the cupped side facing up. Cook for about 1 minute or until some brown spots appear on the bottom, then flip, pressing it down to ensure full contact on the other side and cook for another minute. Transfer the pan to the oven and set a timer for 10 minutes to allow the mo to puff up slightly and cook through.

7. To serve, remove the pieces of pork belly to a cutting board and chop as finely as you like. Add a few spoonfuls of the braising liquid to the pork, chopping again to integrate; you can also chop in fresh cilantro with the pork. Carefully slice the mo in half, leaving one end intact so the filling doesn’t fall out. Open it up and spoon in the filling, then add another spoonful or two of the liquid over the top. enjoy immediately.

   

   a fun cooking project

Tips for leftovers:

• the cooked mo are best the day they’re made, but can be stored at room temp or in the fridge in a zip top bag or wrapped in plastic for up to 3 days. reheat in a hot, dry skillet, flipping often until warmed all the way through.

• the braised pork belly can be left to cool completely and stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. reheat by bringing the pork and braising liquid up to a boil on the stove, then reduce heat to low and let simmer just until the pork belly is warmed through. You can serve it over rice or ready-made doughs, such as frozen Guabao. (I also reused the broth to braise some chicken wings and eggs!)